Replacing Our Propane/Electric Refrigerator with a Residential Refrigerator

Spoiler...  We get by with lots of help from family, friends, and fellow RVers' Blogposts on installing a Residential Refrigerator in a motorhome.  

Our Residential Refrigerator arrived in Saratoga County before we did.  Eric's brother, Mark picked it up for us in the last week of May and was stored at his home until Eric and I arrived at McConchie's Heritage Family Campground in June.

Mark delivered the refrigerator

one day after we arrived at

Mc Conchies.

He & Eric carefully place it on

the pallet Mark brought with him.

The Refrigerator has landed!

Mark & Eric will cover it

with tarps to keep it dry while

Mark assembles a work

crew to do the

 Refrigerator Swap Out.

Eric has work to do inside the motorhome to prepare for the  Refrigerator swap out.  

The Grab Bar behind Eric's head

has been removed, as has the 

grab bar to the right of his 

left hand.

The screen door will also be

removed.

Eric is about to remove the plate

that the passenger seat sits on.

Next:  Eric and I empty out our 18-year-old Propane/Electric Refrigerator and put our food on ice in several coolers.

So long, farewell to the old 12

cubic foot Norcold model 1201

 LRIM Refrigerator.

I'm going to miss its wooden

 front panels.

Let the dismantling begin....

The doors came off easily.

Eric is removing other

pieces of hardware.

The old refrigerator was unbolted and unscrewed from its cabinet.

Eric & I "wiggle the old Refrigerator

out of the cabinet & onto a dolly.

A peek at the empty cabinet area

behind the  old Refrigerator

 is on the far right.

Eric starts to remove parts

added to the Refrigerator 

at CJ Refrigeration in 

Shipshewana, Indiana. 

That is where our old Refridgerator was converted to an electric only compressor type refrigerator.

Eric taped the Refrigeration vents to

 keep bugs out of our motorhome.

The empty space is the perfect place

to store our food coolers.

Where are the newly removed parts now?

Eric put the small parts in our

fire ring & placed the larger

parts, including the doors

against it.

Mark and the moving crew will arrive later today.  Eric removed the tarps from the new Refrigerator and all of the packing materials.  The cardboard and styrofoam have been stowed in our car for disposal later.  

Eric measures the new Refrigerator

one last time...

Our new Frigidaire Refrigerator Model 

FFHT1425VV is 13.9 cubic feet.

It is larger than the old Refrigerator inside but smaller than the old refrigerator outside.  (can you say "Tartus?) This is because the old fridge had a lot of infrastructure on the rear making it bigger. The newer technology of a residential fridge is quite a lot more compact.

The doors are plastic wrapped

shut so they won't open

when the Refrigerator is

moved into our motorhome.

Four men are ready to remove the old Refrigerator and bring the new Refrigerator into the motorhome.  Everything went smoothly, except I bungled the video, so here are the rest of the pictures of the project.

The new Refrigerator will sit

on this dolly until Eric has

insulated the cabinet opening

& installed steel stock for its

wheels to maneuver on.  

Eric and I thank Mark and the moving crew for helping us.  

The old Refrigerator, minus

its doors & the parts that

hung off its backside.

Mark is generously taking the

old Refrigerator & all of its

discarded parts for scrap.

There's still work to do to get the new Refrigerator "ready to travel."

The inside has been cleaned

& the shelving is in place.

The cabinet space is insulated &

the steel stock is carefully placed

for the new Refrigerator wheels

to move along.

Eric will insulate the Refrigerator

 compartment vents with

 "Great Stuff" spray insulating

sealant.

.

The plugged Propane line & water

line (the old Refrigerator had an

Ice Maker) are secured in the 

left rear corner.

The new Refrigerator smoothly

rolls into place.

The new Refrigerator is secured

to the cabinet sides with

L Brackets.

Ta-da!  The new Refrigerator

is installed & trimmed out.

It looks great & I don't miss the wood grain panels that were on the old Refrigerator.  It's time to take out the extra magnets we collected during our travels and display them on the steel doors.

Will the new Refrigerator doors open when Eric and I are driving the motorhome?

No, not at all.

Eric created and installed this stop

to prevent the doors from

opening. 

In case you didn't recognize it, that's an old Gatorade bottle cap being used for the stop with large rubber washers behind it.  It was installed using one of the threaded holes that would have been used for the door hinge if we had changed the door to a left hinge door.

It's time to celebrate with some Ice Cream - Ben and Jerry's Americone Dream for Eric and 

Cherry Garcia for me.  

I am so proud of Eric for doing the research on this major renovation project, 

getting assistance, and carefully working on every step of 

the new Refrigerator's installation.